Nice way to celebrate THE X-FILES turning 20 this year. I would have paid to go to this. Watching the live-feed was the next best thing; thanks Paley for the open invitation.
This show dealt in every genre imaginable and still managed to remain innovative over its 10 year running span (1993-2002) Every standalone episode and themes throughout the seasons of the series are still as relevant today as they were when they screened late into the hours of the night, all those years ago. I’m keen for a marathon now!
I knew there was a reason to Like THE X-FILES Facebook fan page. I should be working on an(other) essay! But this is me right now. LIVE onstage at the Paley Center in New York City:
Trust us on this: David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are coming to the Paley Center to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the premiere of The X-Files, the iconic sci-fi series that largely defined the paranoid thriller for the nineties, and whose influence can still be felt in supernatural dramas airing today.
The X-Files tapped into a new age of anxiety: at a time when radio talk-show hosts were spotting conspiracies behind almost every action emanating from the Clinton White House, the series immersed us in a mesmeric universe haunted by uncertainty, fear, and distrust, and presented two of television’s most complex and enduring characters—FBI agents Fox Mulder (Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Anderson)—to navigate us through it.
Jimmy Kimmel delivers another edition of Mean Tweets, somehow managing to find the meanest, most unsympathetic twitterers on the net. Poor unsuspecting famous people:
Any keen videographers out there? Have a go remixing Chela’s “Romanticise” video any which way you wanna, thanks to French fashion and electronic music record label, Kitsuné. Follow the link or email chelavideoremix@gmail.com to request the files:
The image-link ^ above ^ has more details. Think you can do better than this:
This is the song that dominated my today: HAIM – Falling
I have been reading the love poems of Roman poet, Ovid for one of my papers. I have been laughing at how good they are, how eloquent his use of language is and then at times how just plain cynical about love Ovid can at once be. Relatable stuff. But I’m also feeling like my gut is churning with concentrated heat I don’t know how to relinquish. A supercharged kinetic haze of colourful warmth, misplaced within me. The type of heat that only reminds me of the only person who has ever made me feel this exact same way before. Ovid, you revenant love stirrer you. I am flustered over the past.
I wonder about some moments that got me to where I am now, right here and now, and where I may be heading. It hurts to know/think that there was a possibility those moments might have been different and may have brought about happier memories. Had I only been more…confident, I guess. I think I would still be where I am now but I don’t think I would be feeling this, temperature I am under. Warmth that I hold on to. Heat that I feel, whenever I think of her. Oh Infinite Intelligence! Oh Ovid! Oh HAIM! can I not fall in love with an illusion and get burned years later by it? Stupid biochemistry, what never was shouldn’t feel like this, shouldn’t it? If it was never real…
Mexican dark fantasy lord Guillermo del Toro created the couch-gag for this year’s Treehouse of Horror episode. Not just the couch-gag, but an extended riff of the entire Simpsons title sequence; “It is a tribute to all things dear to my heart.”
Hypnotoad, Lisa in Panland, Maggie with the Cronos being scanned for a whooping triple figure number and terror virtuosos Alfred Hitchcock, Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King all make an appearance. This definitely lives up to the horror name and is possibly the most outrageous couch-gag in Simpsons’ annual Halloween special history — horror reference-porn galore:
This is still my favourite couch-gag by far though:
For you Simpsons fanboys out there (is there such a thing?) this gag comes from Season 15, episode 320, which aired on December 14, 2003. It was a warm evening and a Lapland Longspur sparrow perched on your letterbox at approximately 7:32pm. Trust me.
25 years ago today, Billy Corgan, James Iha, D’arcy Wretzky, and Jimmy Chamberlin took the stage for the 1st time together at the Metro Chicago.
A great band. Timeless music in my opinion. The original band holds the most amazing record for creating some of the most unique songs and music videos:
The music video was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris who were inspired by Georges Méliès’ silent film A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la lune, 1902)
They got the idea for the video because the album cover for Mellon Collie reminded them of early silent films, hence, the video was filmed in the style of a turn-of-the-century silent film using theater-style backdrops and primitive special effects. Most of the video’s backdrops and puppetwork were created by artist Wayne White. [Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, April 1996]
This music video was directed yet again by the creative duo, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. Upon finishing the video shoot, the band flew to New York to perform. However, all tapes of the footage were accidentally left sitting on top of a car, and were lost as the driver departed. The group later flew back to re-shoot the entire video. Billy Corgan considers it the Pumpkins’ best video calling it “the closest we’ve ever come to realizing everything we wanted.” [Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, April 1996]
The second single from their fourth album, Adore. The video for “Perfect” is a sequel to “1979,” and involves the same characters, literally, years older.
The same crew of directors was hired, which consisted of husband-and-wife team Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. It was the fifth and final collaboration between the two and The Smashing Pumpkins. The conclusion of the video, in which a tape falls off of a car and is crushed, is probably a reference to the fate of the first tapes of the “1979” music video, which had to be re-taped because they were left on the roof of a car and destroyed when the car drove off. [Adore,1998]
The second single from the band’s second album and major label debut, Siamese Dream. Directed by Stéphane Sednaoui who intentionally shot using low quality photographic equipment. Corgan said that the plot of the video was inspired by a memory he had of an ice cream truck driver who, upon quitting his job, gave out his remaining stock of ice cream to the neighborhood children. Warning; this video contains people sucking face. [Siamese Dream, September 1993]
Director, Kevin Kerslake, employed various destructive techniques when developing the film to give the video a broken and dirty look. It was shot outside San Francisco entirely on Super8 film at a very modest budget. Corgan was reportedly extremely unhappy with the shooting experience, and the band never worked with Kerslake again. [Siamese Dream, September 1993]
The second single released from their fifth album, Machina/The Machines of God. “Stand Inside Your Love” is a tribute to the play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Billy Corgan created the video’s look together with English director W.I.Z. under the heavy influence of original Salomé illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley. Corgan calls it the only “true” love song he’s ever written. [Machina/The Machines of God, 2000]
Directed both by Billy Corgan and then-girlfriend Yelena Yemchuk; “Thirty-Three” is a series of images shot in stop-motion, ending with a re-enactment of the Mellon Collie album cover. Discovering this song had a video was a surprise for me.
ARGH, Ava Adore, Rhinoceros, Disarm, Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Zero, Siva, heck, I just want to embed them all! To see a trove of insightful behind-the-scenes footage and the rest of the best Smashing Pumpkins videos prior to the band’s breakup in late 2000, I suppose you could just YouTube them, or if you wanna be cool like me, get yourself a copy of The Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits Video Collection (1991-2000)
The Smashing Pumpkins are definitely one of my all time favourite bands.
“In a galaxy, far, far away” lived one exceptionally loyal Wookiee. Chewie is Han Solo’s best friend and the co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon. I would say celebrate with him today, only that would be kind of an oxymoron considering the reason why today is Chewbacca Day is because in 1999, the STAR WARS novel “Vector Prime” by R. A. Salvatore was released, and in it featured the heroic, yet tragic death of the beloved Fuzzball. October 5 is a day of mourning for Star Wars fans.
Walked through the Cellar door into an empty bar and took to a stool. Watched the barman polish glass, awkwardly, before I realized the side entrance leading to the actual sketch area.
I greeted the hosts but forgot to say trick or treat, fortunately for me, Pocahotness, Leda Petit treated me with a lollipop anyway; I’ll have to repay the favour. The ghoultastic MC, Lilly Loca was deejaying Fleetwood Mac over the speakers when I took my seat. David Bowie and Tupac made an appearance during her eclectic playlist, creating a pretty chill atmosphere throughout the night.
This was my first attempt at life drawing so I had to get used to the timed posing. It wasn’t a steep learning curve at all, just sketch what you see but be fast about it. Lilly had a few fun drawing games with an ARKHAM CITY COMICS prize for the winners, and for an undead starlet, Dolly DeStory made zombification look appealing. Apart from struggling to draw that damn flower in her hair, the night was all treats. I may have found myself a new hobby. Definitely dragging my drawing buddy along with me next time.
Oh, and about that favour; Leda Petit has a killer idea for a movie and has entered into the MAKE MY HORROR MOVIE competition. I had planned on submitting an entry about a girl and a volcano and blah blah blah, but Leda’s idea is not so outrageously ambitious as mine and has real potential to bring decency back to the classic werewolf creature feature we should all want to see happen. Vote for her after the jump — she wants to get hairy:
You don’t have to vote for her of course, but I mean, she did give me a lollipop.
Yeah, it is as funny as it sounds. It can’t be said that this man isn’t enjoying himself. The amusing juxtaposition is that, he seems to be the only one that is:
As party invitations go, this man is worthy of being my plus one. Ecstasyguy, use Dance Agility, now!
Yes, I am a collector. I’m not exactly Caltech theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper when it comes to my Marvel and DC lore, nor could I ever represent any superhero insignia across my chest. I’ve developed a more acquired taste in my readings. Well, not that acquired, just more independent; alternative characters that are less traditional. This post wont be a review by the way, but more of a ‘hey look at how obsessed I am, yay’ sort of post. …MINE!
These are the comic books I am currently collecting:
These are a few of my favourites from the year gone by:
These two are my oldest favourites:
And this is maybe a quarter of what I have not including the ones above:
I love comic books 😀 and I can’t imagine that ever changing, fortunately.
🎭 